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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. bear — the animal
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cue — a hint
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. cold — not warm
  7. rest — what's left
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cue — a signal
  10. rash — a series
  11. bat — the animal
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. scale — size or range
  14. bear — the animal
  15. scale — in music
  16. cue — for pool
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. rest — a break
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. rest — what's left

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com